Pacific Coast Academy
Understanding SDAIE Strategies
Though SDAIE (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) is slowly becoming a dated term, replaced by English Language Learner Intervention, the concepts and strategies are still very relevant for the intervention instruction that English Learners require and can benefit from. Whether you refer to the strategies as SDAIE or EL intervention, the primary purpose remains the same, to teach students to understand, communicate, and to function successfully in a predominantly English language society. The ultimate goal is for students to reach an appropriate level of English proficiency, as determined by speaking, comprehending, reading, and writing.
In order for SDAIE to be effective, these are some characteristics that should be practiced by the teacher:
- Identifying focus concepts that integrate student learning
- Facilitating a connection of focus concepts to students’ background experiences, prior knowledge, and primary language
- Selecting scaffolds to assist students’ engagement and performance
- Continuous observation, monitoring, and assessment leading to teacher’s modifications and differentiation, as needed
- Encouraging voluntary reading
- Developing multicultural awareness and validating diversity.
What can you do to support your struggling EL student?
Instructional Scaffolding-this is inclusive of modeling, bridging, contextualizing, schema building, text representation, and metacognitive development. (Tier 1 support)
- Modeling-this includes modeling the language you want students to use; speaking clearly and using academic language, as opposed to social speak/language. This would require an in-person (Zoom or a face-to-face setting) activity where students are encouraged to speak out loud with the teacher and/or peers about what they are reading and learning.
- Bridging-creating a connection between a student’s prior knowledge and the subject matter/concept being taught.
- Individual activities- quick-writes, journal writing, KWL Charts, prediction charts.
- In-person-based activities: think-pair-share.
- Contextualizing-familiarizing students with unknown concepts/material via direct experience.
- Individual activities: use of technology for videos, virtual tours; actual field trips to local museums, etc.
- In-person-based activities: demonstrations using realia and manipulatives that students can see, hold, and experience.
- Schema Building-Helping students see the relationships/connections between various concepts. Individual activities: compare and contrast assignments (VENN Diagrams), projects, etc.
- In person based activities: Peer Teaching strategies such as jigsaw learning, reciprocal teaching, lit circles, group projects, etc.
- Text Representation-Extending a student’s understanding of text into newspaper or game, or by having them apply it in another medium. Individual activities: storyboards, drawings, turning text into a newspaper or game
- Metacognitive Development-preparing students with the skills and vocabulary necessary to speak about their own learning.
- Individual activities: self-assessment or reflective writing, fun academic vocabulary activities (Word Search and Crossword Puzzles), note-taking and study techniques (Cornell Notes, index cards, OneNote, Anki Flashcards-ankisrs.net)
- Preparing students with the skills and vocabulary necessary to speak about their own learning
- In-person based activities: oral quizzes, oral book reports, presentations.
The best results and most progress come from the consistent use of many of the above-mentioned strategies. Other intervention strategies include the use of technology, as so much can be quickly gleaned from virtual settings and tours; graphic organizers, those mentioned above, as well as others; thinking maps; transition word and academic language lists/walls; sentence frames, etc.